If you want to develop your own thermal imaging products, we are pleased to provide these thermal imaging sensors and the support necessary to properly integrate them.

These sensors are based on amorphous silicon microbolometers having high sensitivity in the long wave infrared spectral band. They exhibit high uniformity and very short thermal time constants making them ideal for use in portable thermal imagers as well as to observe objects in motion.

Contact us for electronics, cores and evaluation kits that may drive some of these sensors. These electronics perform ambient-temperature-based non-uniformity correction, pixel replacement and other image processing functions and generate a corrected digital video stream.

Firefighters often find themselves in situations where smoke obscures a clear view of the surroundings. Thermal imaging cameras allow firefighters to see through the smoke, permitting them to locate trapped victims or downed firefighters, to navigate through smoke-filled buildings, as well as to detect hot spots even after a fire has been extinguished.

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Surveillance and Security

Video surveillance is crucial to protecting people and property. Daytime security cameras do not provide adequate visibility at night when it is most critical. The use of additional lighting is often impractical. Because of the high contrast between humans, vehicles and their background, uncooled IR detectors are an ideal choice for many night-time surveillance applications. In these situations, IR detectors have made today's security cameras efficient, reliable, and cost-effective.

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Military

There are many different military night vision circumstances that benefit greatly from uncooled infrared detectors, including portable systems for tactical operations as well as fixed and vehicle-mounted systems for intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance. Uncooled infrared technology is an ideal solution for these applications because of performance, cost and reliability.

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Transportation

Thermal imaging technology is ideal for improving road safety through enhanced vision. Thermal imaging products use the heat that is naturally radiated by pedestrians, cyclists, animals and other roadside obstacles to produce images, even at night and in bad weather. This technology can significantly improve drivers' vision—and that means safer roads for everyone.

ULIS is
a high-volume manufacturer of infrared detectors that
are used in products designed for a diverse range
of imaging applications including: building energy
audits, thermography, security and surveillance, night
vision driving, firefighting and military. ULIS has
become a world leader in the production of microbolometer
detectors based on amorphous silicon technology, an
easy and reliable semiconductor material to manufacture.
The ULIS microbolometers are now available in a range
of form factors, from small to large, and are recognized
because of their excellent performance while maintaining
low weight and low power consumption. ULIS, a subsidiary
of Sofradir and GE Equity, is located in Veurey-Voroize,
near Grenoble, France and employs 120 people.

Key to the impressive advances in the
design and manufacture of bolometer detectors is the
long-term agreement that exists between ULIS and LETI
(Laboratoire Infrarouge of the Electronics
and Information Technology Laboratory, a renowned
French Research and Development Center) which
continues to bring technological improvements as a
result of ongoing significant research. Below are
some recent technical papers indicative of the quality
and magnitude of the research being performed.

Recent developments at the Infrared Lab (LIR) of CEA, LETI have concentrated on the pixel size reduction of uncooled infrared detectors. With the support from ULIS, we have successfully demonstrated the technological integration of 12micron pixels on a commercial TV-format read-out circuit (VGA-ROIC). The 12 micron pixel has been designed, processed and characterized in CEA, LETI and first results showed exceptional performance. This paper presents the characterization and associated imagery results.

As packaging represents a significant part of uncooled IR detectors price, a collective packaging process would contribute to expand uncooled IRFPA applications to include very low cost camera markets. Since the first proof of the pixel level packaging for uncooled IRFPA in 2008, CEA-LETI is still strongly involved in the development of an innovative packaging technology. This one aims at encapsulating each pixel under vacuum in the direct continuity of the bolometer process. A thin film getter has been developed to be integrated in the micropackaging so as to increase the packaging lifespan. This paper presents the recent development at CEA-LETI of this pixel level packaging technology including getter integration and vacuum level measurements.

A new VGA 640x480 uncooled microbolometer IRFPA is described based on amorphous silicon technology with 17μm pixel-pitch. This detector keeps all the innovations developed on the 25μm pixel-pitch ROIC delivering high spatial resolution. The pixel-pitch reduction turns this TEC-less VGA array into a product well adapted for high resolution and compact systems. Electro-optical performance is presented as well as recent performance improvements. The tradeoff between NETD and wide thermal dynamic range is described, as well as the high characteristics of uniformity and pixel operability, achieved thanks to the mastering of amorphous silicon technology coupled with the ROIC design. Solar exposure is also taken into account and shows that ULIS amorphous silicon is perfectly well suited to sustain high intensity exposure.

ULIS and CEA/LETI have a great deal of accumulated expertise on amorphous silicon uncooled microbolometers with 45μm, 35μm, 25μm and now 17µm pixel pitch. Recent innovations developed on the 25μm pixel-pitch ROIC have been incorporated into 17µm pitch models including detector configuration by serial link, low power consumption, wide electrical dynamic range. The new detectors deliver remarkably high spatial resolution while keeping the small thermal time constant. The reduction of the pixel-pitch turns the TEC-less VGA array into a product well adapted for high resolution and compact systems and the XGA a product well adapted for high resolution imaging systems. High electro-optical performances have been demonstrated with NETD < 50mK.

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